To Aru Majutsu no Index

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To Aru Majutsu no Index
To Aru Majutsu no Index light novel volume 1 cover.
とある魔術の禁書目録
Genre	Action, Fantasy
Light novel
Author	Kazuma Kamachi
Illustrator	Kiyotaka Haimura
Publisher	Dengeki Bunko
Other publishers: Daiwon C.I. Kadokawa Media
Demographic	Male
Original run	April 10, 2004 – ongoing
Volumes	19
Manga
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun
Author	Kazuma Kamachi
Illustrator	Motoi Fuyukawa
Publisher	ASCII Media Works
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Dengeki Daioh
Original run	March 27, 2007 – ongoing
Volumes	3
Manga
Author	Kazuma Kamachi
Illustrator	Chuya Kogino
Publisher	Square Enix
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Gangan
Original run	May 12, 2007 – ongoing
Volumes	4
TV anime
Director	Hiroshi Nishikiori
Studio	J.C.Staff
Network	MBS
Other networks: tvk, CBC, AT-X, TV Saitama
Original run	October 4, 2008 – March 19, 2009
Episodes	24 (List of episodes)
TV anime
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun
Studio	J.C.Staff
Original run	October 2009 – scheduled
Anime and Manga Portal

To Aru Majutsu no Index (とある魔術の禁書目録（インデックス）, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu^?, lit. A Certain Magical Index) is a Japanese light novel series written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura; the series is published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. The series was made into an anime^[1] and aired between October 2008 and March 2009, containing twenty-four episodes. An anime adaptation of the side story manga series To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (とある科学の超電磁砲（レールガン）^?, lit. A Certain Scientific Railgun) will be produced.^[2]

Contents 1 Plot and characters 2 Terminology 3 Media 3.1 Light novels 3.2 Drama CD 3.3 Manga 3.4 Anime 3.5 Music 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Plot and characters

Set in a city of scientifically advanced superhuman students, but in a world where magic is also real. Tōma Kamijo's right hand, the Imagine Breaker, will negate all magic, psychic, or divine powers, as well as his own luck. One day he finds a young girl hanging on his balcony railing named Index. She turns out to be a nun from the Church of England, and her mind has been implanted with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum—all the magical texts the Church has removed from circulation. His encounter with her leads him to meet others from the secret world of science and magic and an adventure with his friends where science and magic collide. Tōma's unusual power places him at the center of conflicts relating magicians and science-based espers in Academy City. As Tōma tries to help and protect his friends, he learns the people he knows are not as they appear and begins to attract the attention of magicians and espers alike as they try to unravel the secrets of Academy City and Index.

[edit] Terminology

Power users

Also known as psychics or espers, they are people who can use psychic powers or supernatural powers. Most power users were born with supernatural powers while others are ordinary people who have the potential to develop them; participating in Academy City's Power Curriculum Program is one means of developing psychic powers for ordinary people with potential. Most power users are able to use their powers just by thinking. Unfortunately, due to their powers, they cannot learn and use magic as magic was made for ordinary people who had no powers, furthermore using magic hurts the user in the process.

Magic users

Magic was created by people who wanted to have powers just like their psychic counterparts. Because magic was designed so that most ordinary people can learn and use it, regardless of what type of magic it is, people with supernatural powers are unable to. The fourth novel reveals that those with supernatural powers are capable of performing magic, but the user will be hurt as a result. Like their psychic counterparts who cannot use magic, they cannot use psychic powers as they were not born with supernatural powers.

Academy City

Located west of Tokyo, is the city where most of the series takes place. Its total population is about 2.3 million with 80% of them being students and 1/8 of those students living in the city dorms. As the city's name suggests, it is a city of several schools and institutions of higher learning from kindergarten to university level that learn side by side along with the scientists who research on psychic powers and higher technology. The city was founded by the magician Aleister Crowley to do studies and research on the development of preternatural abilities. It is a very high tech and clean city about thirty years ahead of its time. Entry to the city is forbidden to outsiders except those with psychic potential and those with given permission. Because the city's existence is protected, security is very high, with a spy satellite in space, checkpoints outside of the city, security cameras everywhere and guards constantly patrolling the city to make sure ordinary people cannot enter the city easily. The city power supply comes from the large wind turbines and solar panels that appear all over the city.

Power Curriculum Program

The Academy's City Power Curriculum Program is a large-scale program designed to advance a person's psychic or supernatural powers. The program is a series of tests, studies, lectures, medicines, body simulations and hypnosis used to unlock a person's powers. Most students are Level 0, normal people with no powers but may have the potential to develop powers and are encouraged to participate in the program to help them train or acquire their powers artificially. While most students will fail the program as they never had powers to begin with or fail to increase their power, some are able to advance theirs powers from Level 0 to Level 1 and possibly further. One of the program's success stories is Misaka Mikoto, as she started from Level 1 and worked her way up to Level 5; she is proof that with enough hard work and determination, anyone can become a powerful psychic.

However, unknown to the public there is a dark side to this program. Some of the scientists who research psychic powers try to increase a person's powers, especially those with unique powers, using other unethical methods, including dangerous drugs and experiments. Some of these methods achieve their desired results while others fail with trauma or injury to the participant or, in worse cases, death. In fact, some of the most powerful psychics in Academy City are the result of these dark programs. It is implied that the board of directors of the city are aware of these experiments, but choose to turn a blind eye to them as they allow those scientists to do what they what to do as long as the public does not know and it has achieved its desire result.

Judgment

The public moral committee. It is made up of students with powers from every grade level whose duty is to maintain peace and order within the school system. As most of the city population are students, it is the duty of Judgment to catch those delinquents misusing their powers along with other offenders and protect the students. In the event of a situation that Judgment members cannot handle, their superiors and the city's security forces, the Anti-Skills will take over. Overall, the role of a Judgment officer is more like a part-time civilian patrol officer as their authority is normally limited to their school grounds and they can only use their authority outside when ordered to by their superiors or in cases of emergency. Most Judgment members can be recognized by the green stripped arm band with a shield symbol they wear.

Anti-Skills

The city's police and security forces. Unlike Judgment, most members of Anti-Skills are adults who are mostly normal people who are trained to deal with the city day-to-day activities and security, in addition to dealing with rogue psychics who abuse their powers. Most members of Anti-Skills are seen with special SWAT armor that resist psychic powers along with firearms and riot gear, which shows how serious the situation has to be for them to be called out.

Psychic Rank

Every psychic has a rank that determines how powerful their powers are and how much they can control. There are 7 levels, with level 0 being the lowest for no powers or having passive powers yet no control over it, to level 1 having realize what their powers are and learning how to control it despite using a small amount of power and as the user train to use their powers more under the Power Curriculum Program, their level ranks increase based on how much progress on their control and use of their powers. Currently there are no known levels 6 psychics as according to the Super Computer Tree Diagram, it would take about 200 years for someone to achieve it under the Power Curriculum Program. As a result, Level 5 is the highest level. There are only seven level 5 psychics known, but only six have been disclosed so far.

Necessarius

Also known as the Church of Necessary Evil, it is a secret branch of the Church of England that conducts supernatural and magical experiments to fight supernatural threats. Ironically, Necessarius was created by English Puritans who despise magic, but since Britain was a magical country during their time, they had to learn to use magic to counter magic. Their headquarters are located at St. George Cathedral in London. They are allies of the Vatican and rivals with Annihilitus, the Russian Orthodox Church (ironic, as the organization's headquarters in real life is of Orthodox Denomination). The leader of the Necessarius is surprisingly led by a young female Archbishop named Laura Stuart.

Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum

Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum can mean either Index, the character full name or the library of grimoires inside her brain, which are Necessarius most greatest asset. It is a collection of 103,000 of books of sorcery from all over the world. Compiled by the Church of England, the Catholic Church and other organizations, these banned books were recorded into the mind of Index, who has photographic memory, as an alternative and safe record keeper and thus making Index a living library and safer way to get information from the books since, Necessarius believes reading the originals will curse and taint that person. According to the higher ups of Necessarius, the information from the collection has cause a strain in Index mind and can only be solved by resetting her memories once a year with the price of forgetting her past.

However it was later revealed that this is nothing but a lie as there is no damage for possessing that much information as The Church, fearing that Index will betray them or in a worse case, becomes a threat and the most powerful magician as she possesses knowledge of the world's most dangerous spells, created measures to ensure her loyalty to them. A magical rune in her throat is the real reason that has been causing her pain and forcing her to undergo a memory reset; as a last resort, the Feather of Light is activated to do an automatic reset should a manual memory reset is failed to be performed on time. After the events of the first novel, these measures were destroyed by Tōma, thus enabling Index to live normally. Unfortunately, the Church is not willing to let her go so easily and for the time being are keeping a watch on her, sending their agents and their allies to "retrieve her" just in case.

Annihilatus

The secret branch of the Russian Orthodox Church that deals with magic. Information about this organization is limited, with the only known member being Sasha Kruezhev.

Amakusa Catholics

A secret group of Catholic warriors in Japan. These Japanese Catholics were formed when Japan banned Christianity during the Edo period. To escape persecution, they fuse Shintoism and Buddhism with their Catholic beliefs which developed and evolved a unique form of sorcery, merging it with words and things that was used in everyday life, making it almost impossible for outsiders to read their spell pattern and spell composition. They are also skilled in melee combat and group battles. Currently led by Substitute-Supreme Pontiff Saiji Tatemiya.

God's Right Seat

A secret magical Organization within the Catholic Church, a counterpart to Necessarius. While the organization is suppose to be under the control of the Pope, in reality the organization is more loyal to the leader of God's Right Seat, Fiamma of the Right. Currently Fiamma's target is Index for he believes she possesses the knowledge to unlock his true powers, so much so that he has sent his magicians and agents to Academy City.

AIM (An Involuntary Movement)

An invisible energy field that the espers involuntarily produce. One example of this is when Tōma finds Misaka Mikoto by following wind turbines that are turning without wind. Mikoto's body involuntarily produces voltage all the time; thus Tōma comes to the conclusion that it can power the wind turbines. Another is the Accelerator's "default" setting to automatically deflect any energy or matter that approaches him.

Tree Diagram

The best super-computer in the world, according to the best renowned scientists in Academy City. This computer was loaded into the satellite, Orihime 1, to monitor many aspects of the city. This computer was used for the 'Sisters' Project, to calculate a way to achieve Level 6. By taking the best level 5 (Accelerator) it was calculated that if about 128 Level 5 psychics were defeated by Accelerator, he would achieve Level 6. However, Academy City only had six other level 5 psychics, so by using 20000 Level 3 clones of Misaka Mikoto, they expected the same result. During Touma's fight with Index (while being possessed by Johann's Pen), Index accidentally shoots a Dragon Breath's attack to space and destroys the Orihime 1 satellite, destroying Tree Diagram permanently.

[edit] Media

[edit] Light novels

The light novels have been published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko label since April 10, 2004. As of June 2008, there are sixteen novels and two short story collections.^[3]

#	Title	ISBN	Release date
1	To Aru Majutsu no Index 1 (とある魔術の禁書目録 1, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 1?)	ISBN 4-8402-2658-X	April 10, 2004
Tōma finds a young nun draped on his balcony, pursued by agents of the Church of England. Her mind is filled with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and the spell administering this knowledge deletes her memory at regular yearly intervals. Tōma decides the best way to save Index is to free her from that spell.
2	To Aru Majutsu no Index 2 (とある魔術の禁書目録 2, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 2?)	ISBN 4-8402-2701-2	June 10, 2004
Stiyl-Magnus asks Tōma to help him defeat an evil alchemist who has kidnapped a miko with the power to kill vampires.
3	To Aru Majutsu no Index 3 (とある魔術の禁書目録 3, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 3?)	ISBN 4-8402-2785-3	September 10, 2004
Tōma is surprised to discover that Misaka has a sister who is a clone, and there are around 10,000 of them, created for an experiment designed to raise Accelerator to Level 6.
4	To Aru Majutsu no Index 4 (とある魔術の禁書目録 4, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 4?)	ISBN 4-8402-2858-2	December 10, 2004
A family vacation at the beach becomes extremely confusing when everyone appears to switch bodies.
5	To Aru Majutsu no Index 5 (とある魔術の禁書目録 5, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 5?)	ISBN 4-8402-3025-0	April 10, 2005
Three stories set on August 31. Accelerator struggles to save Last Order, the 20,001st Misaka clone, who has escaped the lab where she was created, Mikoto is asked out on a date by the grandson of the principal of her school, and Tōma fights against a suited man armed with a crossbow who seeks answers from Index.
6	To Aru Majutsu no Index 6 (とある魔術の禁書目録 6, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 6?)	ISBN 4-8402-2973-2	July 10, 2005
Tōma and Index meet with a strange new student and a new magician who seeks to kill them.
7	To Aru Majutsu no Index 7 (とある魔術の禁書目録 7, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 7?)	ISBN 4-8402-3205-9	November 10, 2005
Tōma ends up having to save a kidnapped nun who possesses a grimoire from a group of Catholic warriors.
8	To Aru Majutsu no Index 8 (とある魔術の禁書目録 8, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 8?)	ISBN 4-8402-3269-5	January 10, 2006
Kuroko Shirai of Tokiwadai is in charge of investigating a case of theft, but soon realizes that her beloved Oneesama Mikoto and a Teleporter much more powerful than her are involved.
9	To Aru Majutsu no Index 9 (とある魔術の禁書目録 9, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 9?)	ISBN 4-8402-3385-3	April 10, 2006
The official sports festival has opened in Academy City. Unfortunately for Tōma, not only he does he have to deal with the arrival of his parents and Mikoto's mother, but he finds himself in another desperate situation when another magician sneaks into the city.
10	To Aru Majutsu no Index 10 (とある魔術の禁書目録 10, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 10?)	ISBN 4-8402-3428-0	May 10, 2006
Toma must stop Oriana and Ridvia from taking over Academy City and crashing the Sports Festival while he deals with his parents, Index, Mikoto and her mother at the same time.
11	To Aru Majutsu no Index 11 (とある魔術の禁書目録 11, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 11?)	ISBN 4-8402-3581-3	October 10, 2006
Tōma wins a trip to a distant island in Italy, and brings six people with him.
12	To Aru Majutsu no Index 12 (とある魔術の禁書目録 12, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 12?)	ISBN 978-4-8402-3683-6	January 10, 2007
Tōma and Misaka go on a date as promise in a bet they made, but hilarity ensues when Kuroko stalks Mikoto and Last Order plays a trick on Misaka Imōto, who Tōma mistakenly thinks is Mikoto. Meanwhile, Index meets with Accelerator as they try to find their respective friends while the Nuns of Necessarius try to figure out how to use a new washing machine from Academy City and Stiyl tries to handle Archbishop Laura's favorite pastime: bathing.
13	To Aru Majutsu no Index 13 (とある魔術の禁書目録 13, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 13?)	ISBN 978-4-8402-3801-4	April 10, 2007
Tōma and Accelerator team up to fight against two of the most sadistic magicians they have ever faced.
SS	To Aru Majutsu no Index SS (とある魔術の禁書目録 SS, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu SS?)	ISBN 978-4-8402-3912-7	July 10, 2007
A series of short stories set before the events of volume fourteen.
14	To Aru Majutsu no Index 14 (とある魔術の禁書目録 14, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 14?)	ISBN 978-4-8402-4062-8	November 10, 2007
Tōma, Itsuwa, and Motoharu go on a secret trip to Paris where they encounter a powerful sorcerer.
15	To Aru Majutsu no Index 15 (とある魔術の禁書目録 15, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 15?)	ISBN 978-4-8402-4145-8	January 10, 2008
Chaos breaks out in Academy City when the city's underground organizations battle and race against time to obtain an important artifact before the others. But for some, it is the time when old grudges and rivalries will finally come to an end.
16	To Aru Majutsu no Index 16 (とある魔術の禁書目録 16, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 16?)	ISBN 978-4-04-867086-9	June 10, 2008
Itsuwa has been assigned to become Tōma's bodyguard and caretaker and their relationship becomes closer, much to the jealousy of Index and especially Mikoto, who finally realizes her feeling for Tōma. When an agent of God's Right Seat arrives, the Amakusa Catholics Warriors, Kaori Kanzaki, and Tōma try to defeat this powerful enemy. Itsuwa tries to help, but the boy she loves is killed in front of her.
SS2	To Aru Majutsu no Index SS2 (とある魔術の禁書目録 SS2, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu SS2?)	ISBN 978-4-04-867342-6	November 10, 2008
A series of short stories including a meeting between Tōma's and Mikoto's fathers, two Level 5s of Academy City, and other funny stories involving some of the characters.
17	To Aru Majutsu no Index 17 (とある魔術の禁書目録 17, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu 17?)	ISBN 978-4-04-867591-8	March 10, 2009
Index has been summoned by the British Royal Family to come back to England to investigate a mysterious explosion at the Eurotunnel.

[edit] Drama CD

A drama CD was released as a mail-in order of Dengeki hp volume 48^[4] and was released later in November 2007. There are two parts of story, the first part originally aired as a radio drama in Dengeki Taishō^[3] starts with an encounter with mysterious self-proclaimed "former" magician by Tōma Kamijō and Index in the family restaurant after Misaka decide to go back due to urgent business. The second part involves around Mikoto Misaka and Kuroko Shirai with their "urgent business", and a duel request by a Level 3 Psychic girl from Tokiwadai.^[5]

[edit] Manga

The series has been adapted into two manga series. The one which follows the novel's storyline started serialization in Monthly Shōnen Gangan^[3] in June 2007. The first bound volume was released on November 10, 2007 and there are currently four volumes of this manga.

The side story entitled To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (とある科学の超電磁砲, A Certain Scientific Railgun^?) started serialization in Dengeki Daioh^[3] in May 2007. The story tells of the events before and during the time of the novels from a different perspective from the main character, Mikoto Misaka and her friends. Currently, three volumes have been released. The first storyline tells the story of Mikoto and Kuroko investigating to discover a mysterious illegal "drug" that increases psychic powers in a short time with dire side effects call "Level Upper" during the events of the first novel. As they try to stop the users and sellers of the drug, their quest becomes personal when one of their friends suffers a coma from using it. The second arc is a flashback story on how Mikoto, Kuroko, Kazari and Ruriko first meet with each other. The third arc focus on Mikoto's attempts to stop the Level 6 experiments, ten days before the events of the third novel.

[edit] Anime

An anime adaption of To Aru Majutsu no Index has been announced.^[1] The anime series is produced by J.C.Staff and directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori,^[6] and aired in Japan between October 4, 2008 and March 19, 2009, containing twenty-four episodes. An anime adaptation of the side story manga series To Aru Kagaku no Railgun will begin airing in Japan in October 2009.^[2]

[edit] Music

Maiko Iuchi of I've Sound was in charge of the music in the anime. Four pieces of theme music are used for the episodes: two opening themes and two ending themes. The first opening theme is "PSI-missing" by Mami Kawada, and is used for the first sixteen episodes. The second is "Masterpiece" by Mami Kawada, and is used in the subsequent episodes. The first ending theme is "Rimless: Fuchinashi no Sekai" (Rimless 〜フチナシノセカイ〜^?)^[7] by Iku, and is used for the first nineteen episodes. The second is "Chikaigoto: Sukoshi Dake Mō Ichido" (誓い言 ～スコシだけもう一度～^?)^[8] by Iku, and is used in the subsequent episodes. A single for "PSI-missing" was released on October 29, 2008. A single for "masterpiece" was released on February 4, 2009.^[9]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• To Aru Majutsu no Index at ASCII Media Works (Japanese)
• To Aru Majutsu no Index at Gangan Comics (Japanese)
• Kiyotaka Haimura's website (Japanese)
• To Aru Majutsu no Index (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia